Washington (CNN) – As the Supreme Court considers two major same-sex marriage cases that could change marriage in the United States, religious leaders on both sides of the debate believe they are on God's side of the contentious issue.

In the months leading up to this week's Supreme Court hearings, religious leaders from across the country have held prayer vigils and rallies for their respective causes.

At each event, even those with diametrically opposed views, leaders cite biblical principles as the foundation for their beliefs.

"I believe I am on God's side," Dr. Richard Land, president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and and opponent of same-sex marriage, told CNN. "I have no question in what God says marriage is."

"I do think we are on God's side because my idea of God is someone that is loving," said the Rev. Gary Hall, dean of the Washington National Cathedral and a proponent of same-sex marriage. "My understanding is that kind of God that loves everyone and wants everyone to live a joyful life."

This week, the Supreme Court will hear two cases. One will examine the constitutionality of Proposition 8, a law that prohibited same-sex marriage in California, and the other will test the Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 legislation that forbids the recognition of same-sex marriages nationwide and bars married gay and lesbian couples from receiving federal benefits.

Hall, after taking the reins at the National Cathedral in 2012, decided to marry same-sex couples in the historic church. Land, who has counseled Republican presidents and members of Congress, has written and spoken at length about why same-sex marriage goes against biblical principles.

And although they both believe in the Bible, their opinions on how the text views same-sex marriage are shaped by their views on how literally to read the holy book.

"I come from a tradition that looks at the big story," said Hall, an Episcopalian. "The image of Jesus in the Bible is of someone who really makes everyone welcome, and it is from that perspective that I operate."

Hall acknowledges, however, that the Bible isn't the only guide for this belief.

"Our argument is not entirely scriptural-based," Hall said, after acknowledging passages of the holy book that define marriage as being between a man and a woman. "There is no place in the Bible that I can point to that says Jesus performed a same-sex marriage or anything like that."

In addition to scripture, Hall said, "tradition and reason" anchor his belief that same-sex couples should be allowed to wed. There are about 2 million Episcopalians in the United States.

Land, on the other hand, cites the chapters and verses that guide his views on same-sex marriage.

"The people who take a more conservative view of the Bible and believe that they are under the authority of scripture almost universally oppose same-sex marriage," Land said about people who agree with him.

For Land, this view is not only consistent but also roots his belief in "traditional values" and his disgust with "moral relativism."

Land, a Southern Baptist, continued: "The people who are religious and support same-sex marriage tend to take a Dalmatian view of scripture. They believe the Bible is divine in spots, and they think they can spot the spots."

If the Supreme Court decides in favor of same-sex marriage, Land said, the decision would be on par with the court's 1973 decision on Roe v. Wade, which affirmed a woman's right to an abortion.

This split over the biblical reasoning behind each side of the marriage debate extends beyond just Land and Hall, however. Churches around the country have been divided on the issue, with some choosing to allow same-sex marriage and others to forbid it.

The Rev. Jacqui Lewis, the senior minister at Middle Collegiate Church in New York who has worked with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation on same-sex marriage, comes down in favor of same-sex marriage.

She uses the Bible - and civil rights - in her reasoning.

"I don't think that people who are supporting gay marriage need to distance themselves from the Bible in needing to find support," Lewis said. When asked about how the Bible anchors her beliefs, she cited Mark 12:31: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

On the other side of the argument is Robert Gagnon, a biblical scholar at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary who has worked with the Family Research Council on the issue.

"Only a woman is a true sexual compliment to a man and vice versa," said Gagnon, citing Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:24, along with the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, as the reasoning behind his view on same-sex marriage.

"That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh," reads Genesis 2:24.

As for how he feels about people such as Hall who use the Bible to defend their position in support of same-sex marriage: "You are rejecting Jesus himself. ... Just go ahead and make up your own religion."

soundoff(2,640 Responses)

Gave Them Up

Never has so powerful of a nation been involved in pretending.

March 26, 2013 at 1:44 pm |

John Adams

I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved – the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced! With the rational respect that is due to it, knavish priests have added prostitutions of it, that fill or might fill the blackest and bloodiest pages of human history. ..

March 26, 2013 at 1:54 pm |

Craig Chilton of Evansdale, Iowa

Indeed! But after 35 years of having been conned by the RRR Cult - the [IR]-Religious Radical right - we're finally getting OVER that! As the voters proved from coast-to-coast on Banner Day 11-6-12. ACTUAL Christians (the folks who profess to be Christians AND obey Jesus' command in Romans 13:8-10) comprise 66% of the population. And the MAJORITY of Americans who support Marriage Equality are in the majority. The math is easy to see. The RRR Cult is FINISHED - and Christianity will soon be relevant and respectable again. Just as it was BEFORE Jerry Falwell and his profiteering and opportunistic False-Teacher cronies did such a major and unjustifiable number on it, starting in the mid-1970s.

March 27, 2013 at 7:59 pm |

Question Mark

Ok before i answer the question can someone first please explain to me who is God we are talking about? And can we find him and physically ask him.

March 26, 2013 at 1:42 pm |

DeeCee10000

Ask the pope. He said himself that he knows "god's plan", soooooo. All you have to do is ask the pope what god's plan is. lol. Wouldn't it be great if you could go around telling everybody you knew what "god's" plan is for everybody then pretend as if you are here to control what everybody does? Imagine all the money you could make telling everybody you are speaking for "god".

March 26, 2013 at 1:51 pm |

tkAlfredo

quoting the bible ain't going to get you now were just now that we were all created in gods image and gays were to so its finished

March 26, 2013 at 1:40 pm |

DeeCee10000

Actually, when someone like Scalia reads the part about "stoning a man who sleeps with a man", as it says in the bible, he probably sees that as an excuse to continue being a bigot. Some people are still THAT ignorant.

March 26, 2013 at 1:53 pm |

ThaGerm

Who's on Gods side? Well, that's and entirely different question now isn't it. What most Religions fail to grasp is that religion and God...NOT mutually inclusive, sorry religion, but you don't have the monopoly on God as you have been taught.

Santa Claus is real. Yes, I know there is no evidence he exists, but that's because he's unhappy with people for building so many homes without chimneys. We need to pass legislation requiring that every home in American have a chimney. Then Santa Claus will be happy with us and reward us by bringing us presents.

March 26, 2013 at 1:40 pm |

In Santa we trust

Absolutely

March 26, 2013 at 1:47 pm |

fred

Tom
"I"'m so tired of the people who claim morality cannot exist without a god."

=>immorality is tiresome so if you want to revitalize you're life stop what your doing.
Without God there are no absolutes or need for absolutes. This alone makes you dead wrong in your immorality and renders your statement false.

March 26, 2013 at 1:39 pm |

fred

oopps post belongs below under fred please disregard

March 26, 2013 at 1:40 pm |

rabidatheist

Absolutes are the problem. Those that deal in absolutes, are usually.......ABSOLUTELY WRONG.

March 26, 2013 at 1:45 pm |

TMG

Just where do you think your moral codes came from??? Do you honestly believe that a man in the past came up with the idea that you can't steal or murder? Do you think our morals "evolved"? No, our basic morals came from the Bible, God defined what is right and what is wrong. If you don't believe that, then show me when our morals first came into play. I await your answer.

March 26, 2013 at 1:53 pm |

rabidatheist

@ TMG I have three words for you.....Code of Hammurabi. It came long before the Bible, and had the same "moral code" you are referring too. "Morals do not come from religion, they precede it" --Christopher Hitchens

March 26, 2013 at 1:56 pm |

In Santa we trust

TMG
You're the one making the claim that morals must have come from the bible. What evidence do you have for that?
Don't you think a sense of fairness and/or the effects of vendettas could have introduced concepts such as not stealing and murdering? If not, why?

March 26, 2013 at 1:58 pm |

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCovYF51qHE&w=640&h=360]

March 26, 2013 at 2:00 pm |

TMG

If a "sense of fairness" introduced the concept of right and wrong, what was used to determine what was "fair"? Even the concept of what is fair depends on a concept of right and wrong. It is either fair or unfair but needs to be based on something. Right and wrong did not just "spring up". Someone had to tell man what was right and what was wrong. There can't be a "law" without a "law-giver" or someone to set the standards. Someone would have had to determine what was "fair" in your example.

March 26, 2013 at 2:40 pm |

sam

TMG, try not to be deliberately obtuse. Back in caveman days, Og hit Boog in the head with a club. Boog hated how that felt; so he knew when he hit Og back, that it likely felt the same.

Og and Boog learned that day not to do things to someone if they didn't like to have it done to them.

I'm sorry the cavement are smarter than you.

March 26, 2013 at 2:50 pm |

James

Is it an issue between GOD and Government?

It is too misleading, it is too bad way of making people think that it is for God people are opposing Gay marriage.

Actually it is for the preservation of civilization and common sense I oppose this Gay Marriage concept.

In what specific ways will same gender marriage hurt civilization? Be specific.

March 26, 2013 at 1:45 pm |

sam

Let me guess, James – you're one of these nuts who thinks the moment gay marriage is legal, half the population will go get gay married and then the population will drop because no one is breeding. Right?

March 26, 2013 at 2:25 pm |

A Smith

Obviously we can say conclusively that no higher power exists. The complexity of all natural systems, such as the human body, ecosystems, and the solar system all work in perfect harmony and complexity by chance.

There can't be anything outside of the realm of science and nature, because every reaction has to be caused by an initial action. Like the Big Bang.

Oh wait, what started the Big Bang?

March 26, 2013 at 1:37 pm |

Jim

OH SNAP

March 26, 2013 at 1:38 pm |

OOO

...and your answer is........

March 26, 2013 at 1:38 pm |

Saraswati

Apparently you think this is some sort of super smart satire, but the fact you don't understand your opponents argument just makes it kind of sad.

March 26, 2013 at 1:38 pm |

In Santa we trust

What created god? If a god can be eternal, why not a universe?

March 26, 2013 at 1:42 pm |

24shamsky

So if we don't know exactly what triggered the Big Bang, the default answer must be an invisible magic fairy who lives in the sky? .

March 26, 2013 at 1:44 pm |

Rodboy

Here is what we do know, that science has never, I say has never determine the origin of matter and energy, which are stated as neither created or destroy by our own physics laws. So something or someone was outside the laws of physics for awhile created the stuff , then put a cap on it. Even your friend Lawerence from " Something from nothing agrees on that.

You think there must be a God to explain the Big Bang, but you don't seem to need anything to explain the existence of God. And this seems perfectly logical to you. More evidence religion makes people stupid.

There are and will always be many things science can't explain, as science is conducted by human beings who can't know everything. However, over the course of history, just as you use God to explain the Big Bang, believers have used God, spirits and demons to explain many things whose true causes later yielded to scientific explanations. The reverse has never happened.

March 26, 2013 at 1:47 pm |

PW

Obviously we can say conclusively that a higher power exists. The complexity of all natural systems, such as the human body, ecosystems, and the solar system all work in perfect harmony, which could only occur by design.

There can't be anything outside of the realm of God, because every reaction has to be caused by an initial action. Like God's creation.

Oh wait, who created God?

March 26, 2013 at 1:48 pm |

rabidatheist

Not a big fan of modern science are you? Google quantum mechanics, or quanutm fluctuation, it's a much more intelligent answer than "god did it". Besides, even if I were to say to you, that we have NO IDEA how it began, you now have to explain how you know, HOW IT DID BEGIN.

March 26, 2013 at 1:48 pm |

PW

See how that works, A Smith. You think your argument is better than evolutionary theory?

@RodboyL Hopelessly flawed logic. The basis of your argument is essentially that we must have an explanation for everything, and hence if science can't explain it we need a God to explain it. There is no rational reason to believe we must have an explanation for everything.

March 26, 2013 at 1:52 pm |

PJR

DAVID – IF YOU LIVE THE WAY YOU WANT TO LIVE, YOU ARE GOING AGAINST THE CREATOR OF THIS UNIVERSE, AND HIS NAME IS GOD HIMSELF. JESUS SHARED WITH THE PEOPLE HOW THEY ARE TO LIVE AND GOING OUTSIDE THAT RESULTS IN CONSEQUENCES. GOD IS A LOVING GOD, BUT HE IS ALSO A RIGHTEOUS AND HOLY AND JUST GOD. HE WILL NOT ALLOW THE GUILTY TO GO UNPUNISHED. DON'T BE FOOLED OR LED INTO A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY. IF THIS PASSES, THIS COUNTRY WILL BE JUDGED FOR IT. MAYBE NOT IN THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE, BUT IT WILL COME. IF THIS PASSES, THEN WHAT. GOD'S WORD BY WRITTEN BY HIM. AGAIN, DON'T BE FOOLED.

God existed for an eternity prior to getting so bored with a state of existence in which nothing existed that he magically created an entire universe containing hundreds of billions of galaxies out of absolutely nothing, complete with a set of natural laws he must have worked out during an eternity of doing absolutely else because there was nothing to do. Then he picked on planet in one of those galaxies on which to create millions of species of living things, including one in his "image" even though he has no image. Today he is retired, sitting around doing nothing while people give him credit for anything that turns out well and making excuses to give him a pass when things don't turn out so well.

March 26, 2013 at 1:58 pm |

sam

HEY PJR

I GUESS ALL CAPS MAKES IT SO, RIGHT?

ARE YOU SURE WE SHOULD BE TAKING THE ADVICE OF SOMEONE HOW CANNOT FIND THEIR CAPSLOCK KEY?

March 26, 2013 at 2:26 pm |

Rosie

For those who haven't heard, Washington State just passed two new laws – gay marriage and legalized marijuana.
The fact that gay marriage and marijuana were legalized on the same day makes perfect biblical sense because Leviticus 20:13 says ......
"If a man lies with another man they should be stoned."
We just hadn't interpreted it correctly.

March 26, 2013 at 1:34 pm |

They CANNOT decide on this issue until the KING has weighed in!!

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVkoQHCXSK8&w=640&h=360]

March 26, 2013 at 1:34 pm |

OOO

"religious leaders on both sides of the debate believe they are on God's side"

Gee, when have we heard this kind of talk before?

March 26, 2013 at 1:33 pm |

James

Gay couples cannot make kids having married together
If not for that then why do they need to get married ? only for tax benefits ?
For having kids you don't need to get married, but for raising kids it is better to get married.

March 26, 2013 at 1:33 pm |

Bootyfunk

marriage isn't for kids. there are hundreds of rights that go along with being married. do some homework before you ask such an ignorant question.

So no women who is too old to get pregnant should ever bother getting married? *rolling eyes*

March 26, 2013 at 1:49 pm |

Paul

They could always adopt the kids that religious believers have abandoned.

March 26, 2013 at 1:54 pm |

political science man

these people who call themselves conservatives dont even understand one of the most conservative values which is separation of church and state. If you're a conservative you should want god out of government and government out of your personal lives. not to mention marriage is a civil union which is under state jurisdiction and therefore not the territory of the federal government in the first place. #ReadABook

March 26, 2013 at 1:32 pm |

Mikey

Guess what? God doesn't get a say in this.

March 26, 2013 at 1:29 pm |

kippyafd

Yes he does, on judgement day

March 26, 2013 at 1:34 pm |

DeeCee10000

Kippy, even if your "god" exists, he deserves about as much praise as your "devil". Your "gods" and "devils" are both evil. Better just to finally realize that neither actually exists and move on with life.

March 26, 2013 at 1:46 pm |

Joshua

separation of church and state. Let them get married. Religious ceremonies are not required to get married. Two witnesses and a judge.

March 26, 2013 at 1:28 pm |

Lagos

You're confused. This debate isn't over religious marriage. This is over legal marriage, which is a completely different subject.

March 26, 2013 at 1:44 pm |

Carl

Believers better stand up and pray and ask God to have mercy on the United States. This country was founded on religious beliefs. God is real and one day all of you non-believers will answer to Him. I pray you wake up before He looks you in the face on Judgment Day and says, "depart from me I never knew you". Jesus paid the ultimate price and all he ask is for us to accept him in our hearts. I will pray for you all, believers and non-believers.

March 26, 2013 at 1:27 pm |

End Religion

Country was not founded on religious belief. There is no god, no judgement day. You're an idiot.

Let the sin BEGIN! Woot!

March 26, 2013 at 1:29 pm |

Bootyfunk

your invisible sky fairy is not real. instead of wasting time praying, go outside and put those hands to use helping your brothers and sisters. hopefully you will understand some day that you are in a cult. all religions are cults. cults are bad for you. cults teach you to turn off your brain. try thinking for yourself - you wont' regret it!

America was founded more on independence of religious beliefs than on religious beliefs. That said, since all religious beliefs are myths unsupported by evidence they should have no role in determining rights and freedoms, particularly when there is no universal consensus about them.

Get back to me when you have some shred of evidence that what you believe about God is true.

Feel free to waste all the time you want praying for things. There is no evidence whatsoever that there is a God, much less one who answers prayers. If he didn't think the prayers of millions of Jews and others in WWII were worth his time to answer I can't imagine why he'd bother with the trivial concerns that fill your prayers.

March 26, 2013 at 1:35 pm |

ScottC

Looks like the nasty atheist are out in force today! a model for tolerance. What a joke.

March 26, 2013 at 1:36 pm |

kippyafd

And then there goes the "God is not real" crowd. They have no real argument, so they go with that.

March 26, 2013 at 1:36 pm |

ECassious2

End religion- You have no idea what you are talking about. While I know it is part of our current culture to try and rewrite history, we were in fact founded on Christian principles. If you question this, take a walk around Washington DC. Lear your history from someone other than Bill Mahr or Michael Moore. You can believe anything you want, but trying to argue against hope that something "never was" when it clearly always has been does not lend itself to the intellectual standards that I am sure you would like to ascribe yourself.

March 26, 2013 at 1:45 pm |

Brian

Why is it that you people that beleive in a stone age cult system always resort to presenting threats of hell rather than threads of evidence?

@ScottC: You're just another nasty Christian hypocrite, more evidence that Christianity is a fraud.

March 26, 2013 at 2:01 pm |

sam

Carl, this country was founded by deists. Go away.

March 26, 2013 at 2:28 pm |

Religion is not healthy for children nor any living thing

"This country was founded on religious beliefs." LOL!! No it wasn't, Carl! This Nation was based on Freedom and Liberty for all! God not required.

March 26, 2013 at 4:47 pm |

jerrymcm1970

Unsurprisingly, every believer imagines that God is on their side, because God is a figment of their imagination.

Did you ever hear a person of faith say "I believe God thinks X, but I don't agree with him. I think Y". You never hear that, because humans creat god in THEIR image, not the other way around.

March 26, 2013 at 1:27 pm |

JC

And rarely is that god figment of their imagination having any problems whatsoever with the behavior of the believer. In and of itself it's own little miracle.

March 26, 2013 at 1:31 pm |

Rosie

Where are the Comets when you need them!!!!!!!!!!!

March 26, 2013 at 1:37 pm |

kippyafd

You have no idea what you are talking about.

March 26, 2013 at 1:37 pm |

ECassious2

Actually, believers "believe" God is on their side because this is declared in scripture through the Bible. Figments of imagination are something which has no basis in reality including historical realities. They also are individual in nature, not shared by billions of of people across thousands of years. Rarely does ones own figment impact others to the point of true belief. At this point, of course, my belief is not imagination but simply taking the account that has been recorded as truth. Christianity comes from a historical account recorded in the Bible. This account was then believed by those who read it and who have passed on this book, and therefore its beliefs, to those of us who still believe. Therefore, I did not imagine this anymore than I imagined the stories of Alexander the Great or King Tut. Are you suggesting I have imagined the Bible? I read the book, and believed the account, and the 100's of historians who have confirmed the historical aspects of the Bible (locations, geographic references etc..) as well as the historical Jesus which no learned historian disagrees with. The only question was whether or not this historical Jesus was God in the flesh. I say yes. You say no. But neither of us are working from our imaginations, although one of us may not have done as much research as they think they have. Perhaps you feel the individuals from different regions who wrote the Bible were imagining what they saw?

March 26, 2013 at 2:22 pm |

Religion is not healthy for children nor any living thing

"God" is an imaginary being. Make-believe characters like "god", "Easter bunny", "Santa Claus" and the Tooth Fairy, do not have any voice in matters of government! I say that when "god" registers to vote and starts paying taxes, then and ONLY THEN, will "his" alleged opinions have any significance at all!
LOL!

Poor ezra, at a loss to defend his myths and fairytales he tells himself that anyone who doesn't share them is a child molester. News flash, buddy, there are plenty of stories in the news about child molesters who are Christians.

March 26, 2013 at 2:34 pm |

Bootyfunk

"I don't think that people who are supporting gay marriage need to distance themselves from the Bible in needing to find support," Lewis said. When asked about how the Bible anchors her beliefs, she cited Mark 12:31: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Like most Christians, Lewis likes to cherrypick bible passages. the bible very clearly says g.ays are to be put to death in Leviticus 20:13. that book is disgusting and i'm glad to see christians ignore the horrendous commands therein. the bible has rules for selling your own daughter into slavery - but Lewis thinks its a good moral guide?

March 26, 2013 at 1:25 pm |

ezra

And you think that putting your body part in a t*u**rd is a loving act. Now who should one believe?

March 26, 2013 at 1:41 pm |

Dustin

Stop acting like you know anything about the bible.. You don't!!

And this message is to everyone that reads it.. Nobody cares what your opinion is so stop trolling around CNN and commenting on everything you see. Get a life!

March 26, 2013 at 1:49 pm |

Context Man

Your argument of using Leviticus is out of context and outdated. Leviticus 20:1 talks about not worshipping the idol Molek and is referring to the Israelites. This is something that was written to show what God shared to the Israelites that pertained to their time, not now. It's annoying when believers and non-believers use the Bible, or any other book or law for that matter, out of context.

ezra: I think what other people do to express their love for one another is none of your business. If you have a compelling argument supporting the idea that it is your business please feel free to share it.

The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.